Cymbals and Snares have a weak tripod. More expensive in the UK than in USA

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Wonderful entry level drum kit that gives the feel of professional level equipment to someone who is just starting out. The immense ability to customize and adjust the kit verifies this statement.

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Every avid drummer knows how Pearl Export series drum sets changed the world for every entry level drummer as well as for many others. Since their arrival in 1982, the Pearl Export series has been one of the top notch drum sets that truly deliver quality. Up until now, the export series has undergone several changes and each iteration has made it even better. For sometime, the Export series was dropped off for some other drum set version, but it seems like they could not kick off Export series forever. Pearl Export series EXX is back!

In the music world, older equipment is popular for its vintage look and everyone likes to go back to the past every now and then. That does not hold in the case of the drum sets. Back in the 1980s and 1990s, the drum sets were not as refined as they are today. The mechanical fixtures were not well tuned to producing amazing rhythms. In comparison to the vintage 90s and 00s Export drums, the latest Export drums are definitely much better sound quality.. Nevertheless, if you are just beginning you should probably look into the drumsets from 2000 or 2002 which are made from good quality Mahogany wood and have a much better mechanical structure.

Let us not deviate and try to focus on the latest drums from Pearl.

The shell

The build quality of the Pearl Export EXX drum kit is excellent. You can bash it throughout your music show or rehearsal sessions and expect it to stay intact. The drums are made from Asian Mahogany wood and Poplar wood. Both of the wood types are known for being good looking and durable. Pearl has gone to great lengths to make the entire kit last long with snug fittings that will last forever.

According to the Pearl’s official website, they claim that the good quality wood and ply fixtures also help in producing better quality sounds. At this point in time, I have no way for confirming this so we have to take their word for it.

The EXX series drums are not the Pearl’s top notch professional quality drums. In spite of that, the quality is amazing. Now you can imagine how amazing the professional level kits would be!

Metallic hardware

The new version of the Export drum kit has little metal work on it which help the drums sound better too. The metal parts are chrome and have rubber gaskets wherever metal meets “non-metal” for added protection.

The standard EXX drum kit has 5 drums, 1 bass drum, 2 toms, a floor tom and a snare drum. You can choose the combination of various drum sizes according to your wish and also add in more drums if you need them. This flexibility is quite useful for beginners when they clearly do not know much about selecting the drums.

The rings on the drums are also chrome and connected to both the sides with poplar plies which can indeed be refined and tuned to suit your needs. The plies definitely help in keeping the drum together whilst at the same time maintaining the resonance of the drum cavity which helps in producing sharp drum beats that fade away the way they should, in a split second. Obviously, this fading away factor can be tuned to our requirements by tightening the skin.

Pearl gives Uni-lock adjustable tilter for the cymbals which stands on a nice, firm tripod. You can get various tubing sizes for the tripods ranging from 12mm to 1inches and you can also select the Boom arm size as well. The same uni-lock tilter also comes for the drums with tubing sizes ranging from 1″ to 7/8″. Obviously, for all tripods you can adjust the height and tilt angle the way you like.

Snares

The snares on this kit are mounted on a very light weight tripod and so are the cymbals. Even with the largest tubing, they feel light. It is safe to assume that in heat of an intense performance, a strong blow to one of these will make them fall to the ground. With that said, you might need additional support at the base of the tripod to keep them from falling.

Cymbals

Additionally, the cymbals that come with the kit are not of high quality. An ideal cymbal is expected to producing a slow fading crashing sound. The cymbals on this kit fade instantly and do not give that slow fading crash effect. In short, they SUCK. Such a thing is very disappointing when everything else is amazing.

Pedal and bass drum

The best looking item is the shiny little bass drum pedal. Brushed with silver, it’s appearance gives a premium look to the pedal. This pedals are adjustable too just like everything else in the kit. The bass drum pedal is a single-post design and has a single chain with an interchangeable cam drive. The V shaped cam comes factory preset and it is by default center offset. As a result, when you press your leg on the pedal, the arm hits the drum with quite a lot of force producing a sharp and clean hit that sounds “deep”. As we all say, first impression is the last impression, this pedal really makes an excellent impression on the soon-to-be-drummer’s mind. The pedal can be adjusted to move forward and backward, you can also adjust the length of the arm that hits the drum using a drum keys.

Why Mahogany?

With so much customization available at entry level drum kit, you can imagine why Pearl has been so popular since the dawn of the time. Many other drum kit manufacturers hesitate on using Mahogany for their shells, but Pearl has not hesitated and gone ahead with putting Mahogany in their entry level kit. One thing to note, the Mahogany used is not the best quality, but nevertheless it looks good and it will definitely last for years to come! The addition of Mahogany wood improves the sound quality by adding a bit of warmth to the shells.

At just £499, The Pearl Export EXX is definitely worth buying for an entry level drum set. You will not be disappointed. The price in the USA is £100 less than what it is in UK. For the best pricing for UK, head over to Gear4Music.com to buy the Pearl Export EXX.